Justice League Dark (Volume 1) Issue 5
Synopsis "In The Dark: Finale: By There Was A Crooked Man" Around the world, strange magical happenings are occurring, and getting out of control. All of this is the result of the turmoil that Madame Xanadu's splitting the Enchantress from her host, June Moone, has caused. Now, having been left alone with the Enchantress' creatures, June is in a panic. Nearby, she hears a man's voice calling out to her, and she runs toward it. She finds John Constantine standing over a magic circle that he has drawn in order to repel the witch's power. Unfortunately, he doesn't know just how long it will keep them both safe. Elsewhere, Deadman is outraged that travelling through the door that Shade created only transported him, and left June at the mercy of the Enchantress. Madame Xanadu tries to explain that the Enchantress poses a threat to more than just June Moone. The streets are full of rioters incensed by the Enchantress' malignant force. Deadman will hear none of it, and rushes back to June, leaving Xanadu with only Shade and Zatanna to fight the witch head on. Shade uses his M-Vest to transport the three of them to the cabin where the Enchantress has taken up residence. A cloud of rotting teeth has surrounded the cabin, and Zatanna guesses that they are likely toxic. Shade warps reality, sending the teeth away from them, but he is distracted by a vision of Kathy; his lost love. The distraction brings the cloud of teeth back to torment them, and Madame Xanadu fails to snap him out of his obsessive attempts to reach the illusion. Annoyed, Zatanna tries using her backwards spells, but his guilt and pain are too deep for her magic. Desperately, she tries something simpler, a kiss. While Shade comes out of his reverie, it is only a matter of moments before both Zatanna and Xanadu are overtaken by their own fear and guilt. Constantine asks June how long she was trapped inside the Enchantress, and June responds that it was years. Now she has a rhyme running through her head over and over. Before she can recite too much of it, John covers her mouth, realizing that the rhyme was the spell that Madame Xanadu used to rip June out of the witch. He begins reciting the rhyme himself, but it seems to cause June pain to hear it. Constantine has no care for her pain, and continues reciting the rhyme, trying to stop the witch from destroying the world. Suddenly Deadman appears in the magic circle, and demands that Constantine stop hurting June. While his female companions are incapacitated, Shade is surprised to see Mindwarp appear before him. The witch's power is making his seizure soul even more unstable. He has Shade look after the women while he confronts the witch by himself. In order to prevent Constantine from continuing to say the rhyme, Deadman attempts to possess him, but finds the man's mind so filthy that he can't stand to remain inside him. Constantine manages to finish the rhyme just as Mindwarp arrives at Enchantress' cabin door. As the spell begins to take effect on June, the witch attacks Mindwarp, and he absorbs the magic, resulting in a massive blast that lays waste to the surroundings. Only John and Deadman are left standing, though it appears that the Enchantress' malignant magic has stopped. Mindwarp returns to his three companions with the Enchantress, now merged with June Moone once again. He has little idea of how he did it, but it happened all the same. Rather than answer June's questions, Xanadu tells her to get some rest. Xanadu gathers the group together in her home, having put June to rest somewhere safe. Deadman is still concerned for June's safety, and Constantine reveals that this whole ordeal occurred because Xanadu split June from the Enchantress in the first place. The group goes their separate ways in disgust, leaving Xanadu to plead with them that they must stay together. She has seen the future, and it is horrible. It is also closer than ever. Appearances "In The Dark: Finale: There Was A Crooked Man" Individuals *Justice League Dark **Madame Xanadu **Shade the Changing Man **Zatanna **John Constantine **Deadman *June Moone *Enchantress *Mindwarp *Kathy George *S.H.A.D.E. **Father Time **Frankenstein *Animal Man *Resurrection Man *Choronzon *John Dee Locations *United States of America *New York City **Greenwich Village ***Hokus & Pokus Occult Curioso *Oregon **Portland *New Mexico *Egypt Items *M-Vest Links *http://www.dccomics.com/comics/justice-league-dark-2011/justice-league-dark-5 *http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Justice_League_Dark_Vol_1_5 *http://www.comicvine.com/justice-league-dark-in-the-dark-finale-there-was-a-crooked-man/37-312617/ Justice League Dark (Volume 1) Issue 05